Inspired

Reflections on September

Just jumping in to say hello…I know things have been fairly quiet from me for the past month, but it’s all good.

My life feels smoother, my heart feels fuller and my brain is alternating between spinning with inspiration and yet stalled by wonderment….like one foot is on the brake and the other is on the gas...and both are full on!

I've had so many ideas for projects, that I bought a tiny little...bright pink...notebook to jot down all my ideas before they run on ahead of me and leave me behind…yet so many of them still remain just idea’s.

 

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.

Lee Iacocca 

But…I have started preparing a background on a new canvas, adding multiple layers of paper for texture.  I’ve added at least 8 different layers and colours of paint and rubbed each one with ink…wiping it off to bring out the texture.  Lots of fun, but I still haven’t decided what to paint on it!

I’ve also designed a quote to be printed on a canvas wrap (to go on my turquoise wall) but haven’t sent it off yet to the printer. (tomorrow…I vow to take my foot off the brake with this one and step on the gas)

Having painted the wall in the hallway, turquoise, I'm not quite as shocked by it any more and decided to continue on and paint a wall in the dining room the same colour…but that’s on hold until the rains drive us indoors again (brake).

I started or rather re-started my digital book project…The A to Z’s of me.  I was at least half way through the alphabet when I stopped over three years ago.  Several weeks back I looked at it again…and was somewhat surprised at how much I was enjoying it, so I’ve decided I’m too far into it, to not finish it! Each "letter" has a digital design on one page as well as a written page or two. (gas pedal)

I’ve designed another website, but haven’t decided yet if I’ll use it. (foot definitely on the brake).

I DID finish another Blurb book…all 114 pages of it…last years blog posts and photographs in print and it’s been sent off to Blurb for printing. (gas pedal, gas pedal! I’m doing the happy dance over this!)

And there’s more, so many more ideas, but I need to finish up the old before I dive into any more new projects

As I was writing all of this down, it dawned on me just what September has been about for me.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve felt all month like I was in a “holding pattern” and I can now see quite clearly that it’s been a time of wrapping things up...ideas and generally just a lot of old energy.  I needed to bring closure to so many things, not just projects but even remenents of old thought patterns and parts of me that I’m well and truly finished with. They’ve been good and have supported me while I needed them but it was time to clear up the old, so that I can step into the new.

 

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

Benjamin Disraeli

Do you feel a quickening of energy?  An underlying current of excitement beyond the fear?  Are you seeing glimpses out in the world (and in your own world) of people reclaiming their power?  Taking a new step?  Uttering a new word?

Oh my friends, stay in wonderment…we live in exciting times.

 

addendum:  just a few hours after I published this post, I received this in my inbox...I like to think that it's angelic confirmation that I'm on the right track!

(the photo’s above were taken at Elk Lake park, about half way between our home and Victoria.  The path winds around the lake (10 k’s/6.5 miles) and as always with nature, every changing season brings something new to see and delight me).

A Season of Balance

Profound Balance is Needed in our World

The September 23rd (Friday) equinox (a time of equal light and dark) is a powerful time to bring balance into your life and into our world. Today we tend to think of balance as equal and competing opposite sides. Our world is one of polarity. But in the natural world balance is more like the ancient Yin Yang symbol. Each side includes the other in a dynamic, not dominating, flow.

Fill yourself with light, while honouring the darkness. Accept what is (even if you don't agree with it) AND ALSO hold the vision of what you want. Strengthen your vision, then send it out on the rays of light to illuminate the world.

Jonette Crowley

The Center for Creative Conciousness

 

Yes, the world does seem completely out of balance right now but often it's necessary to rock the foundations before solid rebuilding is possible. We can each do our own part to bring balance back to the world, by staying in balance ourselves.

(I was balancing rocks the other day at a beach near my home…a medatative and calming activity!)

Blessings to all, dear friends.

 

Inside Myself

Living in a place of quiet stillness,

and sidestepping small, whirling eddy’s of chaos,

I tune to an inner song

of peace,

love,

and contentment.

Words fail me

while my heart

learns to speak this new language

of joy.

 

Stay in wonderment dear friends,

(photo of cape gooseberries received from a local gardener. The outer, papery covering shelters a sweet, yellow berry)

The Cure For Ennui

.

 

I read these words by Nancy Leilah Ward a few days ago in her September “energy vibe” report and thought to myself… “thank goodness, it’s not just me!”

I’ve noticed in myself – and heard reports from other people – that there’s a feeling of ennui that many are experiencing. Feeling unmotivated, as if we’re swirling around in an eddy of energy, not going anywhere, just spinning in the same spot. To move out of this, I am receiving messages to do what is fun, what makes me feel good.

September has always felt like a time of doing and newness for me…the result of many years of both being a student myself and then working in the elementary and post secondary educational systems. It’s a time to sign up for courses and think about what activities I want to focus on for the coming winter months. It’s a time to shed summer flip flops and start pulling out the knits, a time to put some structure back into my life.

But this month I’ve been feeling like I’m walking in circles and can’t get quite get a grasp on anything to pull myself out and into a new direction. It feels like I’m in a holding pattern, circling the airport and waiting for a slot, to land.

So…the remedy seems to be, to do something fun! OK, I’m up for that! For me, so much of my fun centers around being creative and today I’m playing with script…as in writing. I’ve joined Kal Barteski in her Script School which started yesterday. I love the easy flow of her script and think it will be fun to add it to my own projects…or just use it as a meditative practice.

And yesterday I had fun with a friend teaching me the basics of jewellery making…which was lots of fun and something I’ve always wanted to do.

"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good".

Dr. Seuss

As always dear friends, thank you for stopping by…you are a each a beautiful blessing. Stay in wonderment.

(The photograph is of a new variety of coneflower (echinacea) "Hot Papaya", that I planted in my garden this summer)

Fall Fennel

 

I’ve been away for a week and then home for a week but have been feeling a bit under the weather and generally listless. I kind of like the word listless. It sounds exactly like I’ve felt. (I just looked it up and it’s derived from the middle English word “list” which meant “desire”….so it’s feeling desireless) I fought it for a few days but have since decided to just go with it and let it run it’s course. I’ve got a few jobs (like finishing a blurb book) that don’t require energy or inspiration…perfect!

We have so much fennel growing in our garden right now…just two plants, but they’ve grown almost 8 ft. tall! We won’t be harvesting them to use in a culinary sense but they’re very pretty…quite light and feathery looking. As it goes to seed this fall, I know the birds will enjoy it.

I hope this last long weekend of the summer (here in North America) is a perfect ending to the season. On the west coast we’re having some of the nicest weather we’ve had throughout the summer! I love sunny Septembers!

 

I have seen slower people than I am and more deliberate…and even quieter and more listless and lazier people than I am. But they were dead.

Mark Twain

...back soon with more "list"!